OFFICIAL '07-'08 BUFFALO SABRES SEASON THREAD

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
2041

Spacek, Kalinin out; Tallinder to return

The Buffalo Sabres are patching together a defense corps for Wednesday night’s game at Pittsburgh.

The latest from HSBC Arena today: Dmitri Kalinin (shoulder) and Jaroslav Spacek (chest) are out, Nathan Paetsch (neck) is questionable, Henrik Tallinder (shoulder) will be back after missing three games and Mike Weber is up from Rochester.

In addition, coach Lindy Ruff revealed that winger Jason Pominville is next in line to play defense if the Sabres have any other injuries or if Paetsch can’t go.

“I have no issue with him playing [against] rush opportunities,” Ruff said after today’s optional skate in the arena. “If need be, we’ll throw him back there and he can be a little bit like [Sergei] Fedorov did in Detroit a few years ago, step back there and play some defense.”

Adam Mair is also questionable for Wednesday with a knee injury. Steve Bernier and Mike Ryan remain out with groin pulls.

For the latest on the Sabres, see Wednesday’s Buffalo News.

2042

Well you know what everyone says about games in hand…

you still have to win them.

So, worst case scenario, they’re 5 points behind with 12 games left- 24 points. It’s not very likely, but definitely possible. Although, looking at Nikuk’s post, I’m having a hard time believing it can happen.

2043

who is rooting for the Leafs to beat Philly tonight? hmm

2044

im praying they do win for once ,but i dont see it happening unless sundin has another game like he did the other night

2045

Important games tonight:

Flyers-Leafs- Go Leafs!

Canadiens- Devils- Canadiens. If the Sabres make the 8th spot, I’d rather them play Montreal than New Jersey.

Senators-Bruins- Go Sens!

Islanders-Lightning- Tampa

2046

^

Flyers will win
Devils will win
bruins will win
islanders will win

we are rooting for the worse team in all those… FUCK

2047

mcgrass nice post, def need those so i can keep track and someone to root for , any of the games bein shown on TV>? maybe CBC or VS, im gonna check now…

2048

VS probably will have something cbc not so much

2049

Canadiens and Devils will be on VS tonight.

I’m pretty psyched about that one. (I like Montreal :help: )

2050

its ok i’ve liked watching montreal for the past couple seasons too lol

2051

i don’t think i could ever really root for the sens

2052

This is basically Nhl.com’s version of what Nikuk posted; it’s a lot less optimistic…

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Jaroslav Spacek could miss the rest of the regular season and Dmitri Kalinin will be out for weeks, leaving the Buffalo Sabres without two veteran defencemen for their final playoff push.

Spacek has a chest injury and will require more tests to determine when he could return, but coach Lindy Ruff said Tuesday, “It’s going to be a good period of time.”

As for Kalinin, Ruff said the player will miss up to two weeks with a shoulder injury.

Both were hurt during a 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Monday.

The only good news is defenceman Henrik Tallinder, who’s missed three games because of a shoulder injury, is expected to return for Buffalo’s game at Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Losing Spacek and Kalinin is a serious blow to a Sabres team that’s 1-3-2 in the past six games and falling behind in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With 12 games left, Buffalo began Tuesday three points behind Philadelphia, which holds the eighth and final playoff berth.

Spacek has been among the Sabres’ steadiest defenceman this season and leads the team’s blue-liners with nine goals and 31 points. Averaging a little over 23 minutes a game, he’s taken on an even bigger role after the team traded all-star defenceman Brian Campbell to San Jose two weeks ago.

Kalinin has been inconsistent, but is still averaging more than 17 minutes of ice time.

Defenceman Nathan Paetsch expects to play despite still feeling sore after being checked hard into the boards by New York’s Sean Avery in the second period Monday.

The Sabres bolstered their defence by recalling Mike Weber from AHL Rochester. Weber has no points in four games with the Sabres this season, and hasn’t been with the team since early November.

Ruff hasn’t ruled out giving forward Jason Pominville an occasional shift on defence.

“Our identity’s going to have to be the underdog category now, and battle through adversity,” Ruff said.

I was hoping that we’d get to see a Pratt-Weber shutdown pairing, but not like this.

Pratt
Sekera
Tallinder
Lydman
Paetsch
Weber

God, help us.

Pratt-Weber
Tallinder-Lydman
Peatsch Sekera

Or does Ruff split up Tallinder and Lydman and pair them with Paetsch and Sekera respectively? Idk, but this doesn’t look good.

2053

The Sabres are 8 points behind the Sens and 5 behind Boston. It’s seems logical to keep Boston within 5 points and let the Sens jump ahead to 10 points in front, instead of having Boston 7 points ahead and the Sens 8 points.

(and I like the Sens, too). what can I say, I like good hockey teams :slight_smile:

2054

Sekera - Tallinder
Lydman - Peatsch
Pratt - Weber

but yeah it seems bad no matter what way you do it.

2055

anyone else notice a trend here?
every year its buffalo with 60 defensemen hurt.
maybe if they signed a defenseman that wasnt 5’2’’ 117lbs, they wouldn’t always be hurt.
Way to go getting rid of Campbell. :rolls eyes:

And yeah, Peters is Useless.

2056

Are you saying way to go getting rid of Campbell because of your first point here? I’m not following.

2057

no I know campbell was tiny.
But with a defense riddled with injurys, the last thing they hould have done was get rid of a defenseman.

2058

So they could hold onto him until the offseason, where they’d be faced with the problem of either signing him for way-too-much-fucking-money, or letting him walk for free?

They got a player who’s an RFA after this year, plus a 1st round pick for this year with a stacked pool of prospects. It’s not such a bad deal.

2059

Ignore list… it’s a good thing. I had to remove him for a minute to see who you were debating the Cambell trade with. It’s just a waste of time.

2060

So I guess this is why they play the games :wink:

Islanders - Tampa: Tampa wins 8-4

Boston - Ottawa: Ottawa 4-1

Montreal - New Jersey: Canadiens shut out the Devils 4-0

Philly - Toronto:Toronto wins in OT 4-3.

Philly gets a point, but 4 points back looks a lot better at this point than 5 pts back, considering philly was up 3-0 til halfway through the 3rd period.